CAP Head Mod

I'll respond to this thread in a bit more detail later (specifically answering the questions bmb posted), but I wanted to let you all know that Antar has kindly pulled the usage stats of the CAP4 Playtest for us. The thread can be found here. If you want to talk about your impressions of usage percentages, go there. If you're desiring to dig into some deeper thought and reflection, this is your thread.

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I already posted why I don't believe Aurumoth is risky at all, and argubly fails the concept, which makes it pretty difficult to answer capefeathers questions, since I don't really think Aurumoth helps us answer them any better. I will answer bmbs questions tho!!!

Did you feel that you were able to collect wins more consistently using a single or several different sets?

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Personally, I mostly spammed Quiver Dance the entire time. A pokemones "best set" is subjective but imo Quiver Dance was head and shoulders better than most of the sets Aurumoth could run. For example I wanted to try a DD + WoW lure set where I could lure out counters to Dragonite by using DD, then burning the revenge killers so Dragonite can have an easier time. But honestly, I just switched to Quiver Dance because it just slaughtered everything and was imo a better set. So to answer the question, using a single set I could was very easy to collect wins.

How do you think Aurumoth affected the metagame?

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Well, the usage statistics answer this question, but I did see a lot of people limiting the pokemon Aurumoth could set up on. For example, I stopped running Tentacruel simply because I couldn't cripple Aurumoth if it switched in, and due to it being so hard to revenge, I just added Head Smash Donphan instead simply to limit the ease of it setting up.

How do you think the absence of Quiver Dance would affect this Pokemon's performance, particularly with reference to Weak Armour?

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If Quiver Dance was not a part of this CAP, I firmly believe there would have been a far more diverse range of sets being used. Aurumoth has such a diverse movepool, but Quiver Dance outclassed so many sets, which sorta made it difficult to justify using a different set, like trying to justify using SD Landorus instead of RP Landorus. It wasn't impossible to justify, but it was difficult to do. Without Quiver Dance, DD sets might have been common, and I personally would have felt far more inclination to test lure sets, or more defensive ones (or Scarf Final Gambit or something), especialy as DD isn't quite as strong as Quiver Dance (DD can be countered, while Quiver Dance doesn't really have much).

I ask the last question because this is one thing I was really interested in learning from this CAP, in terms of how Quiver Dance affected it in terms of risk. In my own opinion, we could perhaps have learned more had we not had Quiver Dance - but then again, possibly Aurumoth would have then been rendered unusable, at least as a sweeper. Or would Dragon Dance have simply usurped the role?

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Quiver Dance made it not really risky (along with No Guard) simply because Quiver Dance is a safe move. There is no drawback, like Shell Smash perhapes. Quiver Dance boosted its SpA to massive levels (letting it 2KO Jellicent with Psychic), boosted its speed making it hard to revenge kill, and finally boosted its weak special defence stat, letting it tank powerful special attacks with ease. This last point is very telling, simply because the number of special scarfers that can revenge Aurumoth is tiny. I ran calculations and heck, I don't even think Scarf Keldeo can revenge kill under rain if SR isn't up (and Moth is at +1), and its one of OUs best scarfers atm. Even ignoring revenge killers, the special defence boost lets it tank Scalds from Tentacruel from ease, as well as other special attackers (provided it can Quiver before said special attack) making it very easy to set up to +1, or even +2 if you used Illusion right.

The question as to whether Aurumoth would have been unusable as a sweeper should it have lacked Quiver Dance is an interesting one, but not something I really put high importance too, the goal was not (unless I am mistaken) to create a powerful sweeper, merely a pokemon that helps us understand risk and reward in pokemon. Sure, lacking Quiver Dance might have made it unusable as a sweeper, but on the other hand, a case can be made that Quiver Dance "breaks" Aurumoth anyway, so I guess the point is moot. DD sets would still have seen use I think, even if they might have had a harder time sweeping, I doubt that it would have overwelmed other sets as much as Quiver Dance does, but I guess its hard to know how it could have turned out.

Its getting late now (midnight) and this post is long enough already and I think I am losing my train of thought / thread here but I want to address Weak Armour in the absence of Quiver Dance. It is possible the ability could have gotten more use (I personally believe it fits the concept best but w/e) but the fact of the matter is, No Guard at least, with the possible addition of Illusion, are more reliable, they are safer, less situational options. No Guard for example, is safe, there are no drawbacks to using it, and it boosts the acc of all the moves I use (yay now I don't miss with Focus Blast / Hydro Pump). Sure, you can claim that the risk "is that your opponents moves are now accurate against you" but Christ, are you really switching into your oppoents inaccurate super effective moves (which was brought up time and time again in support of No Guard) regardless. So anyway, No Guard and Illusion are move reliable, more safe, and are "stronger" abilities (especially when you factor in that Aurumoth already has + spe moves in DD and Quiver Dance further decreasing the effectivness of Weak Amour).

which ran off my teammates, a generic rain team (toad, landorus-i, jirachi, latios, ferrothorn). I would take the risk of setting up every single match with my lead moth, and 9 out of 10 times it'll work in my favor with it taking out one mon, knocking another down to KO range and sometimes even winning the game without even me switching at all. I remember in one match my opponent switched around aimlessly hoping to do something against my quiver dancing moth, but he basically wiped himself when he switched his toad in, eating a thunderbolt and powering up my surfs.

my thoughts on moth itself:
-it had a really exploitable weakness on the special side which in the end does more good than bad for it; i feel that this was a good decision
-it needs to set up in order to become a threat, but once it does be prepared to receive pain
-no guard variants were easy to wall as they packed the punch needed to break through dedicated special walls as most of them simply run thunder/blizzard/filler/filler, usually qd or tail glow and something else
-out of my fourty or so odd matches, I only saw -one- weak armor moth. it was used pretty well too; switching into a predicted ice shard coming off my mamoswine and then sweeping up my HO team.
-illusion is really fun to play with and i actually went on to make a zoroark team in UU after playing with moth for a while.

It was fun to use and it taught me alot about how mindg- RISK works in the meta :)

After I realized i'd be facing politoeds every other match, i started disguising my illusion Aurumoth as Rotom-W, which would force my opponent to switch, giving me a turn to set up Quiver Dance - eventually my opponents would start to recognize me and my tricks.

The problem is, Aurumoth, even with the listed EVs and Quiver Dance, Aurumoth still gets speed tied by Genesect, or worse. That one flamethrower could stop Aurumoths sweep outright. Because of that, I would have to risk a second boost in order to beat Genesect.

Did you feel that you were able to collect wins more consistently using a single or several different sets?

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At first, I tried a Tail Glow set, but soon realized that Aurumoth could not outspeed anything. Soooo, I spammed Quiver Dance, and swept teams.

How do you think Aurumoth affected the metagame?

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Aurumoths illusion and x4 resistance to fighting made my opponents think twice every time i brought in Zoroark. All in all, Aurumoth promoted Prediction and Mindgames, which is part of what makes the metagame so awesome.

In the end Aurumoth has turned out to be very much usable, if used correctly, which fulfills part of the concept. However, i almost never saw an Aurumoth with substitute, which means that question is yet to be answered.

I don't have much to add to discussion, 16+ days after the playtesting ended but... after using Aurumoth for a bit / reading through this thread, this entire CAP project has shown us (in my opinion) that Illusion is a ridiculously powerful on something that can take a hit. I'm not trying to say that Illusion was what "broke" Aurumoth, but rather that it can utilize that ability to its full potential (unlike Zoroark, the original Illusion user!) because it can take hits and set up easily (twice if its forced a switch and your opponent brings in the wrong pokemon). I ran Aurumoth on a HO team that focused on preventing SR and by forcing switches with Aurumoth by bluffing so I could set up. In one battle, I brought in Aurumoth disguised as a Terrakion, which made the opponent think "oh shit, better go into Gliscor"

Something to think about in the future if we ever decide to use Illusion again. It's an ability I want to revisit some day.

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I just realized that Zoroark was more in lieu with the overall CAP concept than Aurumoth. Hehe.

Okay, I know I'm a bit late.
I really enjoy Aurumoth!
I tried using the No Guard sets, but found it just wasn't worth it... It worked really well with Will-o-Wisp and Skill Swap though.
So I throw in Aurumoth as Illusion Lead

I know Quiver Dance gives it away, but it is still that one turn that they don't think it was an Aurumoth. Then they usually have to switch and that's another Quiver Dance. Bug Buzz usually wipes enough after that.